The present invention is directed to a method of manufacturing a memory card that can retain a photographic image, and to memory cards obtained with this method.
Memory cards are very widely used at present, and they can be divided into two classes depending on the nature of their memory element. The first class of cards includes those in which the memory for storing information is constituted by one or more magnetic tracks, or one or more optical recording substrates, secured to the body of the card. Memory cards of the second class are called electronic memory cards, and each includes electronic integrated circuits, also known as an electronic module, having memory circuits as well as circuits for controlling operation of the memory circuits. In this second class of cards, an integrated circuit may also include electronic data processing circuits for processing the information stored in the memory circuits.
For this second type of card, there are two broad categories of transmission of information between the electronic circuits of the card and a card reader. In the first transmission mode, the card includes external electric contact tabs connected to the electronic circuits. These tabs can be placed in contact with a connector of the card reader. These tabs serve to transmit information between the reader and the circuits of the card, and to supply electrical energy to the circuits of the card, since typically the card itself has no power supply of its own. A second mode of communication with the card reader comprises making an inductive coupling between the circuits of the card and the card reader to enable transmission of information and of the electrical energy necessary to power the circuits of the card.
The present invention relates preferentially to electronic memory cards but, as will be explained later, it also applies to memory cards with magnetic or optical tracks.
Memory cards, whether they are electronic or have magnetic or optical tracks, are currently used in a great many ways, such as to pay for telephone communications, to manage banking operations, or for access control. In this last case, whether the card is an electronic memory or one with a magnetic or optical track, its memory includes a confidential number that enables access to certain premises or possibly to certain services. To gain access to the protected premises, the card holder is required to introduce a confidential number, related to the one memorized in the card, into a card reader located at the entrance to the protected premises. However, to further improve access control, it is often necessary for the card, which is frequently called a badge, to include not only the confidential access number but also a clear photograph of the badge holder.
To make such a badge, that is, a card with a photograph of the holder, a card is generally first made with a conventional card body and a memory element, either a magnetic or an optical track, or an electronic module. Then, a photograph of the badge holder is made, and this photograph is fixed to the back of the card body. It is absolutely necessary that this fixation be both irreversible and, of course, feasible. These operations are tedious in all cases, and it is always tricky to glue the photograph to the back of the card.
Furthermore, when the badge must be issued to a visitor at the security station of a controlled area, the operations required --that is, taking the photograph, developing it, and gluing the photograph to the back of the card--are time-consuming and hence annoying to the visitor. These problems mean that a visitor is often simply admitted without such a card, with the attendant degradation in monitoring efficiency.